SCIENCE FILE | Science in Brief

Sign of water on distant planet

Evidence of water has been detected for the first time in a planet outside our solar system, an astronomer says -- a tantalizing find for scientists eager to know whether life exists beyond Earth. The research will be published in the Astrophysical Journal.

Travis Barman, an astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz., said Tuesday that water vapor had been found in the atmosphere of a large, Jupiter-like gaseous planet 150 light-years from Earth. The planet, in the constellation Pegasus, is known as HD 209458b.